Located about 460 miles west-southwest of Charleston South Carolina or about 370 miles west-southwest of Savannah, Georgia residents of the states are warned to evacuate now.

Michael is powerful enough to remain a hurricane well inland as it travels over Georgia on Thursday.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in 92 Georgia counties Tuesday due to Hurricane Michael.

Central Georgia could see between 4 to 8 inches of rain, with some isolated areas seeing up to a foot of rain.

Impacts to Georgia will be observed from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday night.

After making landfall in Florida, the hurricane is expected to turn northeast, crossing parts of central and southern Georgia and bringing very heavy rain, tropical storm-force winds and brief tornadoes to the area.

Currently packing maximum sustained winds of 145 mph the monstrous storm is continuing to strengthen as it heads for mainland.

About 3.8 million people are under hurricane warnings in Florida's Panhandle and Big Bend regions, along with parts of southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia.